We crafted the day away today. We made our snowmen and the little girls that made them. They turned out cute! Chase is very happy. I forgot how hard it is to cut crappy felt without razor sharp scissors though. I have a pretty good stash of wool felt but most of the really bright colors are the acrylic stuff. If your scissors aren’t sharp, sharp, sharp you just end up mashing the stuff between the blades which is crazy frustrating. Especially if you’re 4. Avery made a snowman too. For hers I cut the tp tube down a little so that the snowman is not quite as big as the person. I added a fringe to the scarf too.

Later we turned, a pile of random wooden bits from a thrift store grab into Christmas jazz. Chase worked really hard on her plaque. I think the blue sparkle paint might have been a motivating factor. Actually, I find that sparkle paint is always a good motivator.

I give myself extra points for not micromanaging or sucking all of the fun out of any of the projects. You want to call it hair instead of a hat? Sure. You only want to paint a 1/2″ of sky instead of 3 or 4″? Sure.

After that, we put the Christmas decorations on hold for a minute to make a hostess gift for Thanksgiving. Chase wanted to try a craft project that she saw on tv. I was doubtful but, as it turns out, tissue paper flowers are really fun to make. Each of the girls made one for themselves and we made them really fancy by spraying them with a little bit of perfume. Very fancy.

We made applesauce today too. We dipped into our giant sack of black twig apples (my new favorite!). I thought I bought a half bushel but Ben carried it and feels pretty confident that it’s closer to the 42lbs that make up a bushel so… there’s more apple sauce in our future but the price was right.

The girls helped. Well, Chase helped and Avery supervised. My kids don’t love applesauce but they both gobbled this up. The apples are so good! We used the crock pot. Just apples, a tiny bit of water and a couple of cinnamon sticks. I usually use a food mill to process the sauce but today I used the immersion blender and I think it made the sauce nice and smooth and that’s what they like about it. They won’t touch apple sauce that’s even the tiniest bit granular.

So what’s funny about any of this? It’s me. I’m including this last picture just to illustrate how comically large I am, or maybe just feel, at 13 weeks. At 17 (ish) weeks with Chase I looked like this. Like nothing. Now? It’s madness. Ok, maybe I’m overstating it but the absurd hunger and constant eating isn’t helping me to wrap my head around it.

Anyway, we had a great day. Plenty of time to go to the market, work on all of our projects, take a nap and all at a leisurely pace and (mostly) without getting out of pyjamas. Exactly how I like it.

Wow! You fit in a nap too! I think I need an hour by hour schedule of how all of that fit in. I swear time moves differently in your house! :D
Great crafty day! Love the snowmen! I asked Skyler if he wanted to make construction paper turkeys for the Thanksgiving table and he said, “No”. So we had a day of legos, Star Wars, clothing sorting, and dishes.

@ Lauren… I’ve always said that there are more than 24 hours in Baltimore.. or at least in Stephanie’s day. I totally agree that time moves differently for her.

I wish a did more crafts with my kids… how can I get motivated??

Oh and btw… your stomach gets bigger faster with number 3. That’s what my midwife told me… unless she was just being nice. It’s funny… I looked at the last pic you posted before I read what you wrote and was like… holy cow, look at her belly!! What do the kids think about that?